# This Naked Mind  ## Metadata - Author:: [[Annie Grace]] - Full Title:: This Naked Mind - Category: #books ## Highlights > “We can’t be afraid of change. You may feel very secure in the pond that you are in, but if you never venture out of it, you will never know that there is such a thing as an ocean, a sea.” —C. JoyBell C. ([Location 212](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=212)) > “The world we have created is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” —Albert Einstein ([Location 473](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=473)) > “First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.” —F. Scott Fitzgerald ([Location 640](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=640)) > “The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.” —Samuel Johnson ([Location 739](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=739)) > So if your drinking started as a habit, there is a good chance you often drink without thinking too much about it. Over time, drinking became more than a simple habit. ([Location 764](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=764)) > “The most fundamental harm we can do ourselves is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.” —Pema Chödrön ([Location 785](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=785)) > “Recovery is all about using our power to change our beliefs that are based on faulty data.” —Kevin McCormack ([Location 899](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=899)) > “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” —Nelson Mandela ([Location 984](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=984)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Abstinence can help reverse the negative effects on thinking skills, memory, and attention. And over several months to a year structural brain changes have been shown to self-correct.76 ([Location 1099](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1099)) > “The secret to happiness is freedom. The secret to freedom is courage.” —Carrie Jones ([Location 1183](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1183)) > “Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.” —Albert Einstein ([Location 1273](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1273)) > Dan Harris explains this as hedonic adaptation: “When good things happen, we bake them very quickly into our baseline expectations, and yet the primordial void goes unfilled.”117 ([Location 1335](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1335)) > “Alcohol doesn’t permit one to do things better but instead causes us to be less ashamed of doing things poorly.” —W. Osler ([Location 1478](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1478)) > friend Heidi calls it, “schmoozing and boozing.” ([Location 1487](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1487)) > “Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.” —Stephen Covey ([Location 1566](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1566)) > “You cannot find peace by avoiding life.” —Virginia Woolf ([Location 1691](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1691)) > “No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.” —Buddha ([Location 1803](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1803)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > You may be surprised to know that in the U.S. people who spontaneously recover from alcohol dependence are between four and seven times more successful than participants in our main alcoholism treatment approach: A.A. ([Location 1807](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1807)) > So how did my dad overcome his cognitive dissonance? How did he achieve spontaneous sobriety? He chose the first way, to stop drinking once and forever. But when he made this decision, he had long since determined that alcohol was not doing anything positive in his life. He realized this with 100% of his mind, leaving no lingering doubt, no room to question his decision. He chose to stop drinking with all of his brain, and by doing this he ended the conflict, achieving peace. The personality characteristic that allowed him to do this, his decisive and definitive nature, is also a quality that contributed to his drinking. When he was a drinker, he drank with his entire mind. He didn’t doubt or question every drink. If drinking a little was good, drinking a lot was better. This commitment is both what pushed him to become dependent on alcohol and what ultimately helped him find freedom. ([Location 1896](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1896)) > “Addiction begins with the hope that something ‘out there’ can instantly fill up the emptiness inside.” —Jean Kilbourne ([Location 1916](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1916)) > “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” —George Bernard Shaw ([Location 2028](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=2028)) > The longer we deprive ourselves, the greater the satisfaction when we finally give in. Why? Through abstinence, the feeling of misery has grown—and so has the relief. We translate this relief as pleasure when we finally give in and drink. In this cycle of addiction, both the misery of abstinence and the “pleasure” of surrender are real and intense. ([Location 2100](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=2100)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > You drink to end the distress. The drink itself does not provide enjoyment, but you sincerely enjoy ending the nuisance of wanting a drink. The relief is so strong you feel happy, even giddy. You drink to get the feeling of peace that someone who is not dependent on alcohol always feels. ([Location 2136](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=2136)) > “Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than in a whole one.” —E.B. White ([Location 2501](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=2501)) > “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” —Rumi ([Location 2625](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=2625)) > “Knowledge itself is power.” —Francis Bacon ([Location 2876](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=2876)) > “The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.” —Nathaniel Branden ([Location 3084](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=3084)) # This Naked Mind  ## Metadata - Author:: [[Annie Grace]] - Full Title:: This Naked Mind - Category: #books ## Highlights > “We can’t be afraid of change. You may feel very secure in the pond that you are in, but if you never venture out of it, you will never know that there is such a thing as an ocean, a sea.” —C. JoyBell C. ([Location 212](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=212)) > “The world we have created is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” —Albert Einstein ([Location 473](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=473)) > “First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.” —F. Scott Fitzgerald ([Location 640](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=640)) > “The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.” —Samuel Johnson ([Location 739](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=739)) > So if your drinking started as a habit, there is a good chance you often drink without thinking too much about it. Over time, drinking became more than a simple habit. ([Location 764](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=764)) > “The most fundamental harm we can do ourselves is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.” —Pema Chödrön ([Location 785](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=785)) > “Recovery is all about using our power to change our beliefs that are based on faulty data.” —Kevin McCormack ([Location 899](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=899)) > “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” —Nelson Mandela ([Location 984](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=984)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > Abstinence can help reverse the negative effects on thinking skills, memory, and attention. And over several months to a year structural brain changes have been shown to self-correct.76 ([Location 1099](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1099)) > “The secret to happiness is freedom. The secret to freedom is courage.” —Carrie Jones ([Location 1183](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1183)) > “Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.” —Albert Einstein ([Location 1273](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1273)) > Dan Harris explains this as hedonic adaptation: “When good things happen, we bake them very quickly into our baseline expectations, and yet the primordial void goes unfilled.”117 ([Location 1335](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1335)) > “Alcohol doesn’t permit one to do things better but instead causes us to be less ashamed of doing things poorly.” —W. Osler ([Location 1478](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1478)) > friend Heidi calls it, “schmoozing and boozing.” ([Location 1487](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1487)) > “Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.” —Stephen Covey ([Location 1566](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1566)) > “You cannot find peace by avoiding life.” —Virginia Woolf ([Location 1691](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1691)) > “No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.” —Buddha ([Location 1803](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1803)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > You may be surprised to know that in the U.S. people who spontaneously recover from alcohol dependence are between four and seven times more successful than participants in our main alcoholism treatment approach: A.A. ([Location 1807](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1807)) > So how did my dad overcome his cognitive dissonance? How did he achieve spontaneous sobriety? He chose the first way, to stop drinking once and forever. But when he made this decision, he had long since determined that alcohol was not doing anything positive in his life. He realized this with 100% of his mind, leaving no lingering doubt, no room to question his decision. He chose to stop drinking with all of his brain, and by doing this he ended the conflict, achieving peace. The personality characteristic that allowed him to do this, his decisive and definitive nature, is also a quality that contributed to his drinking. When he was a drinker, he drank with his entire mind. He didn’t doubt or question every drink. If drinking a little was good, drinking a lot was better. This commitment is both what pushed him to become dependent on alcohol and what ultimately helped him find freedom. ([Location 1896](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1896)) > “Addiction begins with the hope that something ‘out there’ can instantly fill up the emptiness inside.” —Jean Kilbourne ([Location 1916](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=1916)) > “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” —George Bernard Shaw ([Location 2028](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=2028)) > The longer we deprive ourselves, the greater the satisfaction when we finally give in. Why? Through abstinence, the feeling of misery has grown—and so has the relief. We translate this relief as pleasure when we finally give in and drink. In this cycle of addiction, both the misery of abstinence and the “pleasure” of surrender are real and intense. ([Location 2100](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=2100)) - Tags: [[favorite]] > You drink to end the distress. The drink itself does not provide enjoyment, but you sincerely enjoy ending the nuisance of wanting a drink. The relief is so strong you feel happy, even giddy. You drink to get the feeling of peace that someone who is not dependent on alcohol always feels. ([Location 2136](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=2136)) > “Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than in a whole one.” —E.B. White ([Location 2501](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=2501)) > “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” —Rumi ([Location 2625](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=2625)) > “Knowledge itself is power.” —Francis Bacon ([Location 2876](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=2876)) > “The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.” —Nathaniel Branden ([Location 3084](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B077VTJC8P&location=3084))